Macka...

[macksrallye]

Hi,

My name is stephen and have been involved in rallying for as long as i can remember (i'm only 18) thanks to rally australia. Been officialing, whether it was with my parents or on my own for years and finally started competing in the last 12 months. I am now looking to build an excel to run in the wa state and clubman championships as well as working on getting an excel series going over here in the next few years.

Any advice on the best way to go about things would be greatly appreciated.

Stephen
(Macka)

[Whitey]

Hi Macka,
Probably the first thing to do is get the word around that you want to start an Excel series in WA and have a meeting and find a few enthusiastic people to assist in being champions for the cause. It would also be a huge advantage if you can get at least three people to commit to build and running cars.

The states with the most success have had a few cars in year one.

You will need to get the idea on the table and accepted by the WA Rally Advisory Panel but there is nothing to stop you running an "informal" series to start. Hopefuly you won't get any pushback from the RAP as 5 other states are already on board.

Most competitors will probably sit on the fence until they see a few cars run at some events. You can expect the series to grow slowly in the second year and start to take off in years 3 and beyond.

I would suggest promoting the series a one make series with control cost rather than an introductory series as the beginner market is too small. We have found that most competitors are people getting back into the sport after having their families or youngsters from rallying families who want cheap, close competition without the need to spend hours every week doing car preperation.

Feel free to use the National Vehicle Regs, competition conditions and other resources on this site.

Good luck and let us know if we can do anything to assist.
cheers
whitey

[phatsista]

Nice to have a positive reply hey Stephen?? :)

I ran my 1968 Datto 1600 in clubman this year (my first year as a driver) and chatting with Stephen in the forests while waiting our turn to drop skids.

All power to Macka for starting the WA discussion up, he's had a fair bit of glass half empty stuff from some of the rally community. But everyone is entitled to their 2cents I guess.

As a former N'Qlder who watched the gemini series and then watched interested when the Excels came along, I'm keen to retire the Datto to Classic weekends and the excel may just keep the low budget and low stress requirements in check.

So if you guys could help in anyway then throw Stephen's email on the list. I'm guessing it was hard work to get the regs etc together.

WA - "Wait Awhile", but maybe Macka can get some discussion moving :clap:

[Damo666]

There is a few Excels running in WA at the moment as I recall? (I've seen a few videos of a silver one, and more recently a white one competing).

I might be a good idea to get those guys on board, possibly set up a display of the cars at the next rally with some further info on the proposed series etc?

[macksrallye]

at the moment there is one car running in rallies, one without a co-driver, one in the process of being built (mine) and apparently one being built. I'm looking at organising to have a bbq with one of the current excel runners and inviteing other interested parties along, although this will only happen once we have more details on how we hope the series will be run.

Do you guys think the bbq is a good idea.

[Crazy Dave]

Getting people together on a social basis to help keep up motivation is always difficult but very effective. Go for it.